Gambling or gaming systems (the terms being used interchangeably throughout the specification and claims herein) that are operated via telecommunications are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,212 to Handelman describes a pay television gaming system including a pay television network having a multiplicity of subscriber units each including a television, receiving apparatus for receiving gaming inputs from the multiplicity of subscriber units, transmitting apparatus for transmitting to the multiplicity of subscriber units information relating to gaming results and accounting apparatus for settling gaming debts and winnings via the pay television network. Users may use a smart card to gain access to the gaming system. The disclosures of U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,212 and all other references mentioned hereinbelow are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
It is noted that throughout the specification and claims the term “smart card” refers to any appropriate security device for secure transfer of data between users, wherein “users” encompasses, without limitation, persons, computers, data centers, data storage devices, memories and the like.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,917 to Kelmer et al., which describes a floppy-disk entertainment and gambling system for personal computers, utilizing one or more floppy disks or smart cards purchased from a licensed vendor or provider. When the disk or smart card is purchased, a predetermined, gambling credit-balance is credited to the “credit balance” field of the “wage-related control information” section of the disk or card. From that credit-balance, the purchaser may bet any desired amount, up to the maximum credited, during the playing of the gambling game. Before the start of play of the game, the player is asked the amount of his wager, whereupon, that amount is deducted from the “credit-balance” field and debited to the “debit-field”. After having played the gambling game, the winnings, if any, are then credited to the “credit-field”, or the losses, if any, are debit to the “debit-field” of the disk or card. After the player has used up all of the credit-balance, or if the credit-balance has reached a predetermined maximum, by means of one or more winnings, then the disk or card having the “wage-related control information” section is returned to the vendor or provider, for either the purchase of a new “credit-balance”, or for the collection of the monies won.
Yet another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,709 to Karmarkar, which describes virtual gaming at a remote location on-site or off-site of casino premises using live multimedia video or restricted pre-recorded video from autonomous randomly selected live casino games. The multimedia video source is at a casino and provides video signals depicting a number of various legally authorized live casino games. An accounting subsystem manages the compensation, credit accounts, and authentication for a remote player. A communication distribution hub connects the multimedia video source and the player accounting subsystem to a remote player station. The remote player station includes an appropriately secured display for displaying to a remote player the multimedia video signal depicting the legally authorized live casino game or a pre-recorded legally randomized casino game. The remote player station also provides appropriately secured gaming information which enables the legally authenticated (biometric or otherwise) remote player to place a bet. The remote player station also provides gaming information to enable the remote player to receive a payout. A remote player can concurrently play several dissimilar casino games. When selecting a game, the remote player can virtually roam around a casino and then participate in a plurality of selected games and purchase casino sponsored E-commerce services and products without leaving the remote game station.
The security of such gambling systems is of prime importance in order to prevent unscrupulous persons from cheating the system. For example, bets are placed at a certain time by means of the smart card. The gambling system relies on the smart card to determine the time of the bet. It is clear that bets may be permitted only before the start of a gambling event. However, it is conceivable that an unscrupulous person might attempt to place a bet on a gambling event (e.g., a horse race) after the event has already taken place and the results are known. Such a person might try to deceive the gambling system into thinking that the bet was placed before the start of the gambling event by tampering with the timing mechanism of the smart card.